Car-unloading apparatus



jam'z, 1923. 1,440,888

T O'DONNELL CAR UNLOADING' APPARATUS.

Fl LED JULY 6. 1920 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 2? 01901; all.

Jan. 2, 1923. 1,440,888

T. O'DONNELL. CAR UNLOAD] NG APPARATUS.

FILED JULY 6, 1920. 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 Patented Jena 2, i923 unites stares TERENCE ODONRTELL', 0F CITY, MISSOURI.

CAR-TUNLGAJDIHG arrnan'rns.

Application filed July 6, 19210. I Serial No. 394,024.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known'that I, TERENCE ODONNELL,

a citizen of the United States, and residentof Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Car- Unloading Apparatus, of which the following is a complete specification. f

This invention relates to car unloading apparatus, andis designed more especially for'use in coal yards and the like. In the typical coal yard there is a railroad spur of'limited capacity, which ends in the yard, and when a car is run into the yard it is usually necessary to unload and withdraw the car promptly to" avoid-undue congestion inftheyard. If thereeis'but a single track,

it is blocked until the car can beunloaded and run out ofthe .ard, and'if it is not convenient for the raili'oed company to remove the car promptly, the operator of the coal yard may be seriouslyinoonvenienced. On

the other hand'conditions maybe such that it is impossible forthe yard operator to unv load when th ailroad com an i prepared to remove the car.

, My objecttherefore is to produce. unload-- Wingapparatus for 'n'ot only' avoiding. mate rial congestion and-delay of operations in' such a yard, butalso for fiacilitating the actual unloading operation, and forv shunting, loaded car laterally from the track to leave the same open to'the 'pass'age' of other cars into or through the yardpand for returning the cartothe track when the yard operator and railroad company are .both preupared for its removal.

With .these objects in viewwtheinvention. consists in certain novel and features I of construction and combinations-of parts as hereinafter described and claimed {and intrench of considerable length and greater width than the lengthof a car, which trench is located Within the yard at one end of a spur track 2 therein, though where the track extends completely through the yard, the

trench will be located between the spur track 2 and an extension or continuation 2 there of; Provided within the trench and along the sides thereof are ties 3for a pair of tracks 4 extending at right angles to the spur track 2, and mounted upon the track rails 4 is a skeleton truck 5. This truck can be moved along by means ofa pinch-bar or other means may be provided for effecting its travel upon said rails. At the opposite end of the trench from that contiguous to.

the spur track ,2 is a hopper 6, through which coal or the like unloaded from a car, may pass to a weighing machine, not shown, or 'to a suitablebin, not shown, for discharge onto a weighing mechanism. The hopper will exceed a car in length, and the inner or inclined wall 7 of the hopper on which the "contents of the car are dumped, projects to or above the lever of spur track 2, the said Wallnarrowing toward its upper end, where it corresponds substantially to the length of a car.

rails 8 each formed with rack-bar teeth along its outer edge, as shown clearly by Figure "Land mounted to roll -upon the truck is a-skeleton drum, consisting of a pair of rollers ereamg on said tracks and provided at their outer edges with teeth 10 meshing with' 'the teeth of the track bars 8.

At their inner sides the rollers 9 are flanged to form annular grooves. 11,- for-"a purpose whichherein after appears. The rollers 9 are rigidly" coilnected together by longitudi nal tie bars 12, connectedfin pairs by vertical struts 13, and the lowerjpairioftie' 12 are connected by cross ties 14: which, when the skeleton dmm isinoperatiVe' position, or liorizontahoccupies the same horizontal plane asv the ties of the spur track 2, and

mounted upon said ties 14 are track rails 15, which, when the skeleton drum is in position A, form a continuation of the spur track,

so that a car may pass from the spur track into the drum. and upon the rails 15 there: 5

of-.-in fact may pass over the last mentioned rails and onto the extension 2 of the spur track. The skeleton drum. will be of such,

The truck is provided with parallel track v size thata box car may pass through it in the event of the necessity, so that a coal car or the like as indicated at C, shall, when standing within the drum, have its load about the center of the drum so that the latter can be rolled readily by one or two men with pinch bars.

The rolling of-the drum with a car there.- in is for the purpose of tilting the car sidewise to dump its contents into the hopper or to restore the car to upright position preliminary to its removal, and during such dumping and return action of the car, the

same must be secured rigidly in place.- To

accomplish this the struts 13 at corresponding sides, are connected by longitudinal beams lfi'providedat two or more points at their-inner sides with plates 17 for clamping screws 18 squared at their outer-ends, so

that .by means; of a crank, handle 19, the;

screws may be operated to clamp the body of the car firmly in position to guard against lateral shifting or movements thereof. It is 'also necessary to anchor the car against vertical movement, in fact it is necessary to anchor the body and the trucks independ ently because of the yielding relation between them due to the use of the customary car springs,not shown. To anchor thebody a plurality of cross bars 20 will be used to bridge the topof the body and extending downward from the ends of said'bars and hooked as at21 to the cross ties 14:, are extensible tie rods 22, the same belng preferably of that type made, extensible by means of turn buckles 23. To' anchor thewtrucks, brackets24 are mounted on the cross ties 14,

are. equipped with pivoted hooks 25' to, be"

hooked over the axles of the trucks. Of course any other suitable mechanism for securing thecar firmly and rigidly in position may be employed, as the particular means for securingit rigidly within the drum may be Va? ried without departing from the principle of construction involved. As here before stated the drum may be caused to travel upon the truck by'the use ofpinch bars or otherwise, but some means must be provided Y for holding the drum firmly 'against rotation or rollingaction when a car is to be run into the same or out of the same. In the drawings two endless cables 26 are provided, each being formed with a loop or. loops consisting of one or more convolutions respectively 27 and then around sheaves 31 in the trench,

and then to the drum 29. The shaft 30 is equipped with a worm-wheel 32 meshing with a worm 33 on the shaft of a motori34. By this arrangement it will found. that when the motor is operated in one direction, the loops in thelcables-will cause the skeleton drum to roll upon the track rails of the truck and that reverse operation of the motor will effect reverse rolling travel of the drum upon said track rails. The proper control of the motor'will limit the rolling travel-of the drum. but as a precautionary measure it may be desirable to provide the truck with end top 35, and thus guard against any possibility of the drums rolling off the truck. Assuming that the truck and drum arein the position shown by dotted lines, Figure '2, it will be apparent'a car can be run or pushed from track 2 into the drum and upon the trackrails 15 thereof, or if track 2 was provided as a means of'exit for unloaded cars, and a second or similar track '2 was utilized for incoming loaded cars, the

truck and drum would occupy the position shown by full lines, Figure '2. In the for mer case the truck would first be moved to the right'to the position shown by full lines, and then the motor would be started to roll the drum. to the right from the position shown by full lines to the position shown by dotted lines, in which position it will be .noticed thecar overlies the. hopper and has dumped its load therein. With the truck initially-in the position shown bythe full lines, no movement of the truck would .be necessary but the drum would simply be rolled to the right as explained, in orderto dump its contents into the hopper. The drum would then be rolled backward to its initial position, this operation being sufthat the car could be run upon the latter, or

in the first-eventuality, the truck would be moved to the left after the drum was rolled back to dispose the car in upright position,

- 15 onto the track rails 2 or the extension 2 thereof.

It will be apparent that by means of unloading apparatus of the character described, the work of unloading and disposing of cars could be greatly facilitated over present rious particulars without the departing from the principle of construction and mode of ing on said second track, a rotary car unloading drum adapted for rolling on said truck and transversely of the first-named track, and a third track in said drum adapted to be positioned in alinement with said first-named track. 7

2. A carunloading apparatus, comprising an entry track, a track running transversely of said entry track and below the level of the same, a truck adapted for moving on said second track, means for moving said truck, a rotary car unloading drum adapted for rolling on said truck transversely of said ent'ry track, means for rolling said drum, and a third track in said drum adapted to be positioned in alinement with said entry trac i 3. A car unloading apparatus, comprising an entry track, a track running transversely of said entry track and below the level of the same, a truckadapted for moving onsaid second track, a rack bar on said truck, means for moving said truck, a rotary car unloading drum adapted 'for rolling on said truck transversely of said entry track and having teeth in engagement with the rack bar of said truck, means for rolling said drum, and

a third track in said drum adapted to be positioned in alinement with said entry track.

In testimony I hereunto alfix my signature.

TERENCE ODONN ELL. 

